Vargas, Jones a good combination
— -- Roy Jones Jr., the former longtime pound-for-pound king, four-division titleholder and future Hall of Famer, did not know Jessie Vargas personally, but he had seen him fight in his role as a commentator for HBO, which televised Vargas' last two fights.
Jones watched Vargas eke out a debatable decision against Khabib Allakhverdiev in April to win a secondary junior welterweight world title and again in a tough, competitive decision win against Anton Novikov in his first defense in August.
About a month after facing Novikov, Vargas attended an event at Jones' new gym outside of Las Vegas and they talked. Jones, a believer in Vargas' potential, figured he could show Vargas a few things in the gym. Maybe give him a few pointers that could help his boxing technique.
"I seen him fight the last two fights but both times he just squeaked by," Jones said. "I was like, 'You didn't show no improvement so come by my gym and at least let me teach you how to [throw a left] hook.
"I said, 'I want to see you get better. I want you to be dominant.' I said, 'You should come by the gym and let me teach you how to hook and then go back to your trainer. I don't want to try to take you away from nobody. Matter of fact, your trainer can come with you, but come by and let me teach you how to hook.'"
Unknown to Jones at the time, Vargas' trainer, Ismael Salas, just one of the trainers Vargas has had during his career -- Robert Alcazar and Roger Mayweather have also trained him -- had accepted a job training boxers in England. Salas had worked with Vargas for only two fights but asked him if he wanted to come with him to England to continue training. Vargas, who lives in Las Vegas, was more comfortable training at home, so they amicably parted ways, leaving Vargas in the market for another cornerman.
"So Jessie came to the gym the next day and he brought his dad with him. I didn't know if he was his trainer or who he was at first," said Jones, learning later that Vargas and Salas had split. "The first day he kind of liked it, I guess, and he came back the next day and said, 'Why don't you just train me?'"
Knowing Vargas was in need of a trainer, Jones wanted to help. But he keeps a busy schedule. In addition to his own boxing career -- he is long past his prime but has won five fights in a row and holds out hope for a cruiserweight world title shot -- the 45-year-old Jones does a lot of traveling for appearances and also has his work for HBO. So he gave Vargas a choice.
"I told him I'm on the go a lot and I have a busy schedule so some days I can't get to the gym, so I got to get my guy to record your sparring and send it to me so I can break it down," Jones said. "I said, 'If you're willing to work with that I'm cool with it'."
Vargas was fine with it and Jones accepted the offer. The two did spend plenty of time working in the gym together over the past two months and Jones said Vargas was very receptive to what he has been teaching him.
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